Walmart Watch Blog

Walmart had big plans for the small town of Exeter in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The company wanted to build a massive superstore in the borough of just under 5,000 residents. However, Walmart faced resistance and was forced to make the following announcement:

“We have decided to discontinue efforts to develop the store,” Walmart Director of Community and Media Relations William C. Wertz stated in an email Monday. “We were unable to obtain all of the permits and approvals necessary to proceed in advance of a March 31, 2012, deadline that was contained in our agreement to purchase the properties.”

What happened? Ordinary citizens joined together and demanded to know what Walmart would do to their neighborhoods. There were many issues, but the biggest was traffic congestion and the possibility that Walmart might require road work that would be paid for with local tax dollars.

The first step was filling City Council meetings with opponents of the new Walmart. They demanded that the full impact of the Walmart be studied without glossing over the potential negatives. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation found Walmart would create a tremendous amount of traffic and therefore require a major restructuring of the roads leading to the proposed site. Community members demanded that Walmart shoulder the costs for these changes, which led to the company withdraw the proposal.

Mary Pat Coleman, a member of the anti-big-box store group Exeter First, said she was “very, very pleased” to hear of Walmart’s decision.

The group’s position was that Walmart wasn’t just going to be an Exeter issue: traffic would also move through Wyoming and West Pittston, she said.

“I have to give kudos to Wyoming Borough, because they were not going to benefit from having Walmart in Exeter,” Coleman said, noting the borough would get the increased traffic but not the tax revenue. “They weren’t bulldozed by Walmart’s demands, and I think they looked out for their community.”

19 Comments

Anonymous

April 4, 2012

The poor people of the area can continue to buy their goods at much higher prices from the smaller stores in the area who got the politicians to ban the store. Maybe the politicians can use the money they make from the higher prices for their country club dues.

HonestETC

April 4, 2012

Maybe you need to get the real facts about w*lm*rt – like for every 2 jobs they create in a community 3 are lost. There are many more. I suggest you watch “The High Cost of a Low Price” before commenting further.

Anonymous

April 4, 2012

I watched it several times already. It has been proven false. One of the producers was a regular poster here. Just because something is on the internet doesn’t mean it is true. Poor efficiencies are the reasons for the higher cost and the Mom and Pops pay less, don’t offer medical insurance, and are not stable.

Anonymous

April 4, 2012

it is time for Walmart join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union for all Walmart Cashier Workers and for all Walmart Produce Workers and for all Walmart Deli Department Workers and for Bakery Department Workers. and time for Walmart join the Teamster Union for all Walmart Truck Drivers Workers and for all Walmart Hardware Department Workers and for all Walmart Gardening Department Workers and for all Walmart Maintenance Workers and for all Walmart Stock Person Workers and for all Walmart Customer Service Desk Workers and for all Walmart Courtesy Association Workers and for all Sam’s Club Truck Drivers Workers and for all Sam’s Club Forklift Drivers Workers and for all Sam’s Club Maintenance Workers and for all Sam’s Club Meat Cutter@Meat Wrapper Workers and for all Sam’s Club Produce Workers and for all Sam’s Club Cafe Workers and for all Sam’s Club Bakery Department Workers and for all Sam’s Club Cashier Workers and for all Sam’s Club Membership Desk Workers and for all Sam’s Club Cart Attendant Workers. and it is time for Walmart join the United Healthcare Workers Union for all Walmart Pharmacy Workers and for all Sam’s Club Pharmacy Workers. and it is time for Walmart join the Communication Workers Union for all Walmart Electronics Workers and for all Sam’s Club Electronics Workers. it is time for Walmart join the United Auto Union for all Walmart Tire@Lube Express Workers and for all Sam’s Club Tire@Car Battery Installment Workers right of away and right now please by make Walmart give all Walmart Workers and all Sam’s Club Workers a Living Wage With Affordable Healthcare right of away and right now please without close down all the Walmart Store and without close down all the Sam’s Wholes Club.
Thank You Very Much United Food And Commercial Workers Union and Teamsters Union And Make Change At Walmart And OUR Walmart And Employee Free Choice Act For Trying Make Walmart A Better Place To Work For All Walmart Workers And For All Sam’s Club Workers From Tom P Noonan

Anonymous

April 4, 2012

I do work over at Palmdale Ca Vallarta Supermarkets as a Courtesy Clerk like I bagging Grocery. and Greek the Customer I been working over at San Fernando Ca Sam’s Club 6625 from 08/20/1991 to 08/28/2002 as a Cart Attendant like I did Cart and made number of Roll and help the Member Load Merchandise and Grocery into their Vehicle. Palmdale Ca Vallarta Supermarkets Business move very slow because Customer been Shopping at Palmdale Walmart Superecenter location at 37140 47Th Street East for Low Price. Walmart Supercenter Grocery got Low Price then Vallarta Supermarkets.

Anonymous

April 6, 2012

For decades our towns and cities and states have been so eager for new businesses to move in, that we’ve bent over backward to give them all kinds of tax breaks and subsidies, in the expectation that they would hire local people, buy local products, and in general boost the local economy.

With Walmart it doesn’t work that way. They hire local people all right – for the minimum-wage part time help, anyway. But those people aren’t making a living wage, so if they are self-supporting or essential to their family’s support, they end up going on public assistance for food and medical care.

And who are these minimum-wage employees? Some of them are business owners who went bankrupt because Walmart came to town, and some are their former employees.

And for this, the local taxpayers are *paying* Walmart to move in???

Yes, you may pay a higher price per item at your local Mom & Pop store – but the people you support with your business are your neighbors. And if Walmart is in the next town, shopping locally means your tax dollars stay in town, and you use less gas.

We don’t have much left in our little town, since a Walmart moved in twenty miles away. But with gas prices rising, I got to thinking about what would happen if we lost our little grocery store remaining. It would be a disaster! Now if I’m in the vicinity of Walmart I will stop in for those things I cannot get closer to home, but I do as much shopping as I can at locally-owned stores – it’s well worth the price difference, especially if enough of us do it to save our stores!

Anonymous

April 6, 2012

Wal-Mart’s average wage for hourly workers nationwide is nearly $12/hour which is hardly minimum wage. This is a myth put out by the unions who hate Wal-Mart because they have been so successful in keeping every US store union free. If Wal-Mart gave the union bosses the money they want, then Wal-Mart would suddenly become wonderful. It is all about money for the union bosses and not the employees.

Sadie May

April 8, 2012

Don’t be silly. If the hourly average wage is $12, that is only because the average is skewed by corporate salaries ( i believe Walmart’s CEO, Micheal Duke, makes about $35 million a year… which averages out to approx. $16,000 an hour).

Anonymous

April 8, 2012

Rather than accusing others of being silly, you should look it up. Over a year ago the average wage for Wal-Mart hourly employees (1.4 million) was $11.75. This is the highest in the mass retailing business. You compared starting wage with average wage. What the CEO makes is below average for a company this size. What do you think the CEO of Microsoft makes? This is a class warfare tool by the unions. A couple both working at Wal-Mart could make $48,000 a year which is above average for America. Seek the facts.

Sadie May

April 8, 2012

To be certain, it does appear that the average wage of [i]full time[/i] employees is approx. $12 per hour… but the numbers are a bit elusive for what percentage of Wal-Mart employees are considered full-time (as per Wal-Mart’s reluctance to disclose those figures).

As such, I would say that you are partly right… but mostly wrong.

Anonymous

April 8, 2012

You should learn to use a search engine so you wouldn’t make such “silly” mistakes. You were off by 50%. Many employees of Wal-Mart do not wish to be full time and are supplementing family income. Nobody is forcing them to work there. Abe Lincoln did away with slavery. In America we are free to work where ever we wish. We also have to have personal responsibility. With hard work and with employer sponsored educational opportunities, an employee has nobody but themselves for not being a success. The real problem is when the unions tell, them they can get extraordinary income for doing below average work. Small time business people work many more hours a week and risk their capital. That is why they make more money.

Sadie May

April 8, 2012

Beg pardon?

“[O]ff by 50%” of what?

I grant the likelihood that some employees may wish to only work part-time, but fail to see how their desire to do so changes the math.

I also cede that any employee unhappy with their employment is free to leave… but haven’t a clue as to how you feel this is related to your error in stating that the average hourly wage at Wal-Mart is $12 hr.

Stick to the subject, please – I’m not much inclined to address any further meandering.

Anonymous

April 8, 2012

The very liberal Huffington Post cites a study of a year ago saying that the average wage for hourly employees is $11.75 . Easy to assume now it is over $12 now. That’s about 50% more than your $8. You really should learn about search engines so you can find this stuff on your own.

pattysboi

April 28, 2012

Your statement “Many employees of Wal-Mart do not wish to be full time and are supplementing family income.” is completely FALSE. They may start off at close to 40 hours, but it is soon cut to barely half-time. You really need to get the FACTS.

Anonymous

April 28, 2012

“”””Many employees of Wal-Mart do not wish to be full time and are supplementing family income.” is completely FALSE””””

Prove it.

pattysboi

April 28, 2012

Actually, YOU are the one who needs to “seek the facts”.

pattysboi

April 28, 2012

Prove it. Use FACT-BASED news sources, not your local wally world newsletter. The ONLY ones who might make maybe close to $12 an hour are the so-called “store ‘managers'”.

Anonymous

April 28, 2012

You should use the internet to check yourself out before making such stupid remarks. See info from study published in the liberal Wal-Mart hating Huffington Post.
“”Walmart employs more than 1.4 million workers in the U.S., and the
average wage of a Walmart associate is $11.75 an hour, according to
Fogleman.””

You guys are so used to reading the drivel from the unions that you are starting to actually believe it. That $11.75 figure is over 2 years old and is now over $12.00. The reason you must be making less is because you must not be doing what you should be doing to increase your job skills and your worth to any company. The unions foster the belief that you are owed something by any company. In America, you are responsible for yourself and your family. It is up to you to make yourself a valuable asset to any company. If this is not happening in your case, then put your energy into improving yourself. Forget American Idol and improve yourself. Successful people do this every day. Do not accept the teachings of the union that you are owed something by any company and work to better yourself for you family. Don’t accept being lower than average. Make yourself way above average. Proved?

Anonymous

April 6, 2012

A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess
.

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